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Helping Hands Society holds annual telethon

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JAMIE PESOTINE/Staff Photographer
Children from the Helping Hands Society hold signs thanking those who help the organization during a telethon Saturday at the Laurel Mall in Hazle Township.

More than a dozen preschoolers sang bravely into television cameras at the Helping Hands Society's annual telethon Saturday afternoon to say thank you to those who helped secure a grant for their agency and to encourage others to give so programs offered by the agency continue to reach local children.

Those in the audience at the Laurel Mall near Hazleton clapped as the kids sang, "The Wheels on the Bus," while enthusiastically holding signs that said thank you to Hazleton Mayor Joseph Yannuzzi, state Rep. Tarah Toohil and Sen. John Yudichak. Each of the officials helped Helping Hands obtain $285,000 from state casino revenue to help repair a heating system and leak at the agency's home in the Hazleton Heights, Mary Beth Koch, executive director, said.

Koch said though the grant will help with building maintenance, the society still relies on its annual telethon to pay for daily operating expenses, programs and therapies.

She along with Yannuzzi, Toohil and Yudichak, and a slew of telethon talent, plus other appearances by children who benefit from Helping Hands and local personalities, encouraged people to call in a donation as the telethon aired on WYLN-TV from noon to 11 p.m. Saturday.

It was staged live in the mall's JCPenney wing, where more than 40 volunteers toiled Friday in preparation for the telethon and all day Saturday. Koch said work on the telethon doesn't just take place over one weekend, as volunteers passionate about the programs and assistance offered by Helping Hands work nearly year-round.

Koch said many people, including staff and volunteers, have witnessed the accomplishments Helping Hands has made in people's lives and for close to 30 years, donations made at the telethon have allowed the agency to continue its work.

Koch said the agency is thankful for whatever donation total it is given from the community each year. She said the telethon began with retired director John Seamon and entertainer Charlie Prose, and without them the agency would not still be around.

This year's telethon had raised $100,699 by 10:55 p.m., with five minutes to go.

The telethon also featured games, snacks, a live therapy animal display, a balloon twister and prizes. Famous Salon and Spa, Hazle Township, was offering manicures and massages for a donation to the telethon.

Neil Young of Young's Funny Farm, Berwick brought his therapy donkeys, Honeybun, Henry and Surprise, to the telethon, along with his therapy dog, Cinderella, and his three therapy ducks. It's rare, he said, for ducks and donkeys to become certified therapy animals.

The donkeys poked their heads over fences as the small hands of children reached up to pet them. A little girl giggled, delighted to pet Henry, who calmly obliged to the attention while Neil Young talked about how therapy animals interact with people.

The animals love the interaction as much as people, he said.

Young said he has seen his therapy animals bring smiles to faces that had stopped smiling and speech to those who refused or couldn't speak.

"We bring smiles," he said, before tightly holding onto one of his ducks so an onlooker could pet its soft feathers.

The Helping Hands Society is a nonprofit agency that believes all people are entitled to the services needed for maximum development of their potential, its website states.

The society was founded in 1924 and legally incorporated in 1927, and has expanded since then. It also offers a preschool for typical children and an after-school tutoring program for students through sixth grade.

The telethon provides the society's major financial support, defraying the costs of the various specialized programs for disabled children.

Donations can also be made at www.helpinghands society.com.

achristman@standardspeaker.com

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